


talking is hard

by stuckontheceiling



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/M, Tusk Love mentions, the beginning of a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-06 09:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17937371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuckontheceiling/pseuds/stuckontheceiling
Summary: Jester's favorite book is being turned into a movie but no one will go see it with her. But she hasn't asked Caleb yet...





	1. Chapter 1

Caleb was tired. He had spent a long day at work and would love nothing more than to collapse onto his bed. The bookshop is a good job for him as he can spend his small free time reading for his research. But being around people exhausts him and today was a busy day. He slowly trudged up the stairs that lead to his door. As he approached, he could hear shouting coming from the other side. Caleb cautiously opens the door to find Nott, his roommate, and their good friend, Jester, shouting at the television in front of them as they stood on the couch. He suddenly remembered Nott saying something this morning about having an evening of Mario Kart with the blue tiefling planned.

“Noooo, Nott! Don’t do it!” Jester shrills just as Nott hurls a blue shell towards the front of the race, cackling with glee as she prevents Jester from winning. As the animation on the screen ruins Jester’s win, Caleb fully enters the apartment and shuts the door. The sound of the lock being put in place alerts the two young women of his arrival.

“Aye-oh-aye, it’s Caleb!” Jester says with a big grin on her face. Nott shouts a hello as she plops back down into a seated position on the couch.

“Ah, yes, hello.” He quickly says, walking into the kitchen. He immediately sees the empty boxes of take-out in the garbage. _They must have already eaten._ Caleb notes to himself as he opens the refrigerator to see what he could scrounge up. To his surprise, there was a take-out box with a note that has “For Stinky” written upon it along with a small doodle of what looks to be himself. From the doodle and the nickname, he immediately knows it was written by Jester. It was a callback to their first meeting a little over a year ago. Nott had brought over her friend to hang out and interrupted Caleb who was in the middle of bathing Frumpkin because the cat had snuck outside and rolled in some unsavory substance. Jester had thought the smell was from Caleb and not his cat.

He feels the corners of his mouth curl up into a small smile as he put the small slip of paper in his pocket. He re-enters the living room, food in hand. Caleb’s plan was to retreat into his bedroom to leave the two to their fun but he stops when he sees Nott right in front of him, standing below him with a sly grin on her face, her goblin teeth peeking through her lips.

“Caleb.”

“Nott.”

“Will you go out with Jester?” The words that come out of Nott’s mouth made Caleb’s eyebrows shoot straight up into the sky. As soon as she says this, Jester runs into view, socks sliding on the wood flooring.

“Nott! She didn’t mean it like that.” Jester’s eyes shift panickedly from Nott to Caleb. “No, no no, no, no, what she meant to say was there’s a movie called _Tusk Love_ that’s coming out and it’s based on my favorite book. And I mean, it’s my _favorite_ , Caleb.”

“Ja, I’ve heard of it. It is...a romantic novel, is it not?” Caleb asks, eyebrows still raised.

“Yes. Now, I have two tickets for next weekend and I wanted Nott to go with me but she’s apparently going to Felderwin for family things, apparently.” Jester’s hands are gesturing wildly all over the place as she speaks. “And I asked like Beau, and Yasha, and Molly, and Caduceus. I even asked Fjord! And they are all busy. Or as Beau said ‘Jess, I love you but I’d rather eat my foot than go see _Tusk Love_ in theaters.’”

In the middle of her speech, Frumpkin makes his appearance between Caleb’s legs with a soft ‘mrow.’ Still listening to Jester, Caleb sets his food down in order to allow Frumpkin up onto his shoulders in his normal scarf position. He picks up his food again and looks back at Jester, who is still speaking animatedly.

"And I know it’s not going to be your cup of tea. Trust me, I _know_ this, Caleb. But I really want to see this movie and I don’t want to go by myself like a weird person. And I already have the other ticket. And Nott said I could ask you because you're probably not busy, probably. So will you come to this movie with me? Pretty pleaseeee?”

Caleb instinctively wants to say no. He knows about _Tusk Love_ from his work at the bookstore. He hates to classify it as such but it is primarily a book purchased by women. Caleb has seen one or two men who have purchased it, though they always claimed it was a gift for someone. He had heard of its movie adaptation through customers who had over the past few months come into the store wanting to read the novel before the movie. But he looks at Jester, a girl who has befriended him despite his many tries at pushing her away, who now looks at him with eyes that look like they might just tear up if he actually says no.

“Ja, okay. I will go with you.”

“Oh, Caleb! Really?” Jester leaps onto Caleb, wrapping her arms around his neck and causes Frumpkin to fly off. Caleb raises his arms, holding his still waiting-to-be-eaten dinner out of the way of being crushed from Jester’s strong hug.

“On one condition.” He says, his arms still raised away from her.

“Anything! Anything at all!”

“You will let me go and let me go eat my dinner in my room as I am hungry and I wish to be alone.” Jester giggles as she moves away from Caleb, who promptly nods at her and Nott before making his way to his bedroom; Frumpkin hot on his heels.

“You are the best, Caleb!” Jester shouts just as he shuts his bedroom door.

Caleb immediately begins to eat food that’s been sitting his hands for the last fifteen minutes or so. It's not the best temperature but it's dinner. He kicks off his shoes and falls onto bed once the food has entered his system completely. Caleb takes the little doodle out of his pocket and stares at it, with a small smile on his face. That girl was going to be the death of him and he knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is what happens when you listen to a song and it gives you a fic idea. tbh this was originally gonna be fjord/jester but it became something else and is still becoming something else. it's been a while since i've written or even posted anything so be gentle...but i hope i did these character justice.


	2. Chapter 2

“And the part when Oskar carries Guinevere across the field away to safety when the gnolls are still chasing them and he fights them off while still holding her! That was also my favorite part in the book.”

The movie had ended five minutes ago but that did not stop Jester from retelling the entire story to Caleb as they exited the theater with the other patrons into the afternoon air.

“And when Guinevere's dad tried to sto-”

“Jester, you are aware that I watched the movie with you, are you not?” Caleb asked, hands in pockets as they walked along the sidewalk together. “You do not need to describe it back to me.”

“Oh, I know, I know. I’m just excited.” Jester skipped ahead a little bit; the skirt of her dress bouncing a little with each skip. “It’s my favorite book. And now technically it’s my favorite movie. Technically.”

“Technically your favorite movie?”

“Well…” She stops and taps her chin, eyes looking up, as she thinks for a moment. “Okay, yes, it is my FAVORITE!”

The last bit she shouts out a little and spins with her arms thrown out. It’s as if she’s announcing something extremely important and that all the world should hear it. And Caleb supposes that to her, it is extremely important and this brings a small smile to his face as he watches his friend make a fool of herself as they continue to walk.

“What did you think of it?” She asks, earnestly.

He pauses. Caleb doesn’t want to admit to her that he found it kind of boring. The story line was predictable. It was a fluff piece. But he also did not know anything about the original piece of text it was based on. And as anyone will tell you, the book is always better than the movie.

“I thought that it was pleasant enough.” He ends up saying. Jester’s jaw drops.

“Pleasant enough? Caleb!”  Jester shrills, her hands flying to her face in surprise. “It was the best movie ever made ever!”

“I do not know much about the book. I have nothing to go on.” His brows furrow. “What is it you want me to say?”

“Oh, gosh. I am going to make sure you read it. You will love it. I promise.”

Caleb firmly nods. He supposes that he should have picked up a copy before going to the movie. He makes a note to himself to do so next time he gets a chance.

They walk on for a while more, chatting idly about things. Caleb makes the mistake of asking Jester how art school was going, which prompts Jester to talk about every single detail of every one of her art classes. She tells a story about a student in her figure drawing class who fainted when the model had enter the room, completely naked.  Jester then asks about his cat to which Caleb lightens up and talks about Frumpkin for what seems like hours to him but he couldn’t care. He really loves his cat. Their conversation ends when Jester stops walking for a moment, looking at Caleb strangely.

“Hey, where are we going?” She looks around her curiously.

They were about four blocks away from the cinema now. Caleb stares ahead of him for a moment before turning back to Jester. He has no idea. He honestly was just following Jester as she practically jumped her way along the streets of Zadash, talking about anything and everything. It makes him wonder when was the last time he had gotten so wrapped up in a conversation. His thoughts are interrupted by a hand waving in his face.

“Hellooo? Anybody in there?”

“I have no idea where we are going.” Caleb says,  “Where would you like to go?”

“Uhm,” Jester taps her chin again in thought. “Well, I _am_ pretty hungry. We could maybe get some food. Maybe.”

Caleb thinks about this for a moment. Specifically, he thinks about how much he has in his wallet at present.

“Food sounds like an excellent idea but I am pretty low on funds.” He tells her. And Jester deflates a little bit, sadden at the idea of no food. “But we could go back to Nott and I’s. I can make you something there if you like.”

“As long as it’s sweet!” And Jester grabs Caleb’s arm and starts to tug him in the direction of his apartment.

They weren’t that far off from Caleb and Nott’s humble homestead. And once there, Caleb roots through their cabinets and fridge along with Jester’s help. The one thing they managed to find all the makings for pancakes. Caleb begins working on mixing all the ingredients together while Jester sits on the countertop next to his work station.

“This is weird.” She says after a moment. Caleb turns to her with a skillet in hand, a quizzed look on his face.

“How so?”

“Well, I don’t know...I’ve never just hung out with you before, Caleb.” She kicks her feet a little as they dangle from her perch. “Which is not bad at all! It is not! I just...well, I don’t know.”

Caleb nods as he begins to pour pancake batter on top of the already sizzling skillet. He grabs a couple blueberries and scatters them across the circle of batter.

“We are friends but we do not know each other as well as we would like.” She says. “Also, I’ve never been here when Nott isn’t here. So that’s another weird thing, I guess.”

“Well, as you said,” Caleb says. “We are friends. Friends hang out. Do they not?”

“Uh, yeah! That’s what being friends means, Cay-leb.” She laughs, stressing the syllables on his name. When she does that, she also pushes on his arm a little and he almost slips up when flipping the pancake. He feels warmth quickly spread across his face. He quickly pushes it off, telling himself it doesn’t mean anything.

Since last weekend, when Jester asked him about going to the movies, he couldn’t seem to get her out of his head. He ended up using the doodle as a bookmark that night. It seemed at any pause in his day, there was a brief moment of _‘I wonder what Jester is doing right now.’_  

And this was not normal for Caleb. Caleb never thought about...well, he never thought about anyone that often. Maybe his parents sometimes but truly, Jester had captivated his mind. The back of his mind said that he was beginning to have a crush on her, which frightened him. He knew she had a crush on Fjord or at least had some strong feelings toward him. And why shouldn’t she? Fjord was a strapping young man. He was handsome, fit, and had everything going for him, as Caleb did not. Caleb was a bookshop clerk. He was a grad school dropout. Jester would never see him in the same light as she did their half-orc friend. Besides, Caleb didn't have a crush on Jester...he hoped. 

“Why blueberries?”

Caleb blinked and suddenly was back in the kitchen with Jester. She held the package of the small violet fruits, looking at it as if it were an important, historic object in a museum.

“Nobody likes plain pancakes.” He says, plainly. “And we do not have any chocolate so-”

“Blueberries.” She finishes.

“Ja. Blueberries. Hand me a plate from that cabinet, will you?”

Once the mixed batter was used up and there were pancakes piled onto two different plates, the two began their post-movie meal. Caleb leaned against the fridge while Jester continued sitting on the countertop. She spoke while she ate, though she was carefully not to speak while food was in her mouth. It seemed that she had a million thoughts running through her head. Caleb wanted to hear every bit of those thoughts too. Jester Lavorre had an interesting outlook on life, very different from Caleb’s own.

“Do you know why they are called blueberries?”

“I do not.”

“They’re not even blue!” Jester pushes her hand in Caleb’s eyeline, “ _I_ am blue. These are not blue. ”  

“What do you think they should be called then?” He moves her hand away from his face. The moment his hand touches hers, he feels the warmth flush his face again. Caleb tries to avert his gaze else where so that Jester would not see the immediate redness that had formed in his cheeks.

“Oh, I don’t know.”  She says, “I think I am more a blueberry than an actual berry though.”

Caleb’s eyebrows furrowed together. She really made it her mission to confuse him at any given moment.

“How? I do not understand what you mean.” He asked her, looking at her intently.

“I am blue and I am sweet.” She says as it’s a simple fact. And it is. Jester is a blue tiefling, a rarity in her kind. She is also sweet. She is one of the kindest people Caleb has ever met in his life.

He recalls a memory from a couple months ago, around Winter’s Crest. He had come home from work one evening, colder than ice and ready to seek refuge in the warmth of his home. When he entered his bedroom, he found a small envelope sitting on his bed with his name written in fancy script. The envelope contained a small card from none other than Jester Lavorre. The card was simple and appeared to be handmade. Inside she had written him glad tidings for the holidays and that she would have gotten him a gift but she did not know what he liked so she decided to make a card. When Caleb asked Nott about it, Nott remarked that she and Jester had exchanged gifts earlier that day and that Jester asked to leave the card for Caleb to find later. Jester truly shows him more compassion than he deserves and he cannot place a finger as to why.

In his thought process, Jester hops off the counter and begins to clean up the pancake mess that had been made. Caleb watches her as she does so. _Her skin is not the same color as a blueberry._ He thinks, remarking on the statement she had just said. A list of shades of blue sparks in Caleb’s mind as he tries to place the color of her skin in a single category. It is not the same as the sky or even that of the sea. It is its own color.

“I am inclined to agree.” He says as he moves from his position of leaning against the fridge to help her clean. Jester pauses from washing syrup off a plate and looks at Caleb quizzedly.

“To agree with what?”

“You are very sweet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i always feel weird writing dialogue because i feel like i always write too much of it but then I remember that if you want the characters to actually say things you have to write dialogue. also i know winters crest isnt really a thing wildemount but i didnt want to just put christmas....ok enough of me shitting on my own stuff. i hope yall enjoyed this second part!


End file.
